Question Adding disks to an ex4100

[rogerdv]

I received a new EX4100 and I want to add disks, but I need no RAID. Just want to put my disks there and use them. Cant find a way yo do it, tried to set mode to JBOD, but it says it will format the disk. Also, JBDOD will configure my disks as one and I want to keep them separated, if possible. Is there a way to do this?

 

[bigboxes]

Are you talking about the WD My Cloud EX4100? According to their website you can configure it for JBOD.

Multiple RAID Options
With the RAID settings of the My Cloud EX4100, you can customize your system with the configuration that’s best for you. Use RAID 0 for enhanced performance, RAID 1 for mirrored data protection, or a JBOD / spanning structure for non-RAID configurations.

 

[rogerdv]

Are you talking about the WD My Cloud EX4100? According to their website you can configure it for JBOD.

Yes. But I wanted to know if there is some way to have each drive separated. Also, I would like to know what happens if, while in JBOD, one drive fails, or I if I can pull one disk out and move the contents to a new disk. You knbow, all possible case uses that can happen in an environment where disks changes constantly.

 

[mxnerd]

Why not go to WD's support forum and ask. According to WD EX4100's user pdf manual, in its JBOD mode definition , disks are treated as separated volumes.

P.57

https://documents.westerndigital.com/content/dam/doc-library/en_us/assets/public/wd/product/nas/my_cloud/my_cloud_ex4100/user-manual-my-cloud-expert-series-ex4100.pdf

 

[rogerdv]

WD support requires VPN. Anyway, asked yesterday, havent got a reply yet. Im trying to log in again and says my password is incorrect. I read the manual and sitll had doubts, it is not precisely very detailed. I guess they assume you know what you are doing, or that you are starting with an empty disk. We decided to backup the disk, put it back in the NAS and see waht happens when we switch to JBOD.

 

[mv2devnull]

Just want to put my disks there and use them. Cant find a way yo do it, tried to set mode to JBOD, but it says it will format the disk

Initializing partitioning and filesystem on new volumes sounds perfectly logical.
Do you mean by "use" that the box should mount an existing filesystem (which it might not support) and show data that is in it?

 

[rogerdv]

Initializing partitioning and filesystem on new volumes sounds perfectly logical.
Do you mean by "use" that the box should mount an existing filesystem (which it might not support) and show data that is in it?

xactly. But the drives are NTFS, which is supported, I think.

 

[mxnerd]

xactly. But the drives are NTFS, which is supported, I think.

No. Internal disk format is always EXT4 or some other format from Linux. NTFS disks can only be external (USB) or be 2nd disk. No matter which NAS vendor.

 

[rogerdv]

No. Internal disk format is always EXT4 or some other format from Linux. NTFS disks can only be external.

Thanks! Then, I guess that it is impossible to pull a disk and put it in PC to use it, unless I have Linux.

 

[mxnerd]

Thanks! Then, I guess that it is impossible to pull a disk and put it in PC to use it, unless I have Linux.

It's possible to read ext2/3/4 disk from Linux

Freeware Linux Reader™ for Windows

Need to access files on Linux? Easy! Here is a freeware tool for extracting files from Ext2/Ext3/Ext4, HFS and ReiserFS partitions in Windows.

www.diskinternals.com

for writing you will require Linux File Systems for Windows by Paragon Software

Linux File Systems for Windows | Paragon Software

Plug hard disk with ExtFS/Btrfs/XFS partitions and work with media on Windows.

www.paragon-software.com

 

[rogerdv]

It's possible to read ext2/3/4 disk from Linux

Freeware Linux Reader™ for Windows

Need to access files on Linux? Easy! Here is a freeware tool for extracting files from Ext2/Ext3/Ext4, HFS and ReiserFS partitions in Windows.

www.diskinternals.com

for writing you will require Linux File Systems for Windows by Paragon Software

Linux File Systems for Windows | Paragon Software

Plug hard disk with ExtFS/Btrfs/XFS partitions and work with media on Windows.

www.paragon-software.com

Yes, I know, I use linux at home since 20 years ago (but not here at the office). What I mean is that I cant read the disk on Windows, unless I install that Linux Filesystem software. I expected the NAS to work with NTFS.

 

[mxnerd]

Yes, I know, I use linux at home since 20 years ago (but not here at the office). What I mean is that I cant read the disk on Windows, unless I install that Linux Filesystem software. I expected the NAS to work with NTFS.

Linux based NAS can read/write NTFS volume, but not the first disk that the NAS OS resides on. For a Linux based NAS, it will always format the first disk in EXT2/3/4 format unless you purchase Synology/QNAP or DIY FreeNAS etc where you can choose other format (but also not NTFS)

You have to install Linux File System on Windows PC in order to read any Linux formatted disk, no other way to get around. To be able to read and write Linux disk, you have to buy software. No other way to get around, too.

 

[mv2devnull]

You have to install Linux File System on Windows PC in order to read any Linux formatted disk, no other way to get around.

Well, one could boot some "Live" Linux distro, (preferably image that already has NTFS-support), mount both filesystems and transfer data.
Unless that does count as "install" too?

 

[mxnerd]

Well, one could boot some "Live" Linux distro, (preferably image that already has NTFS-support), mount both filesystems and transfer data.
Unless that does count as "install" too?

OK. That will work. I'm not a real Linux expert in any way. Didn't think deeply enough. 😁

 

[mv2devnull]

I'm not fond of those "Live images", but the fact that one can boot and run an OS without depending on local drives in any way is valuable for all kinds of rescue and forensics. (Whether one boots from pendrive, DVD, or network share via PXEboot, is "implementation detail".)

However, if the use of "external disks" is frequent, then it is better to have the drivers installed for the OS that is "in" the machine(s).